Education

 

1999-2002               Doctor of Ministry, Chicago Theological Seminary

                                Specialization in Cross Cultural Ministry & Native  American  Theology

 1985-1986                Master of Sacred Theology, Lutheran School of Theology/Chicago 

                                 Specialization in Process Theology/ Religion and Science

 1980-1984                 Master of Divinity, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

                                  Specialization in Systematic Theology/ Religion and Science

 1971-1975                 Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN.

                                   Major in Philosophy, Minor in Classical Guitar

1974-1975                  Pedagogishe Hochschule in Reutlingen, Germany

                                   History of Germany, Art History, German Language studies


                                       Professional Experience

2014- present     Pastor, Grace Good Shepherd, NcKinleyveille, CA

2009-2014             Executive Director, Navajo Lutheran Mission, Rock Point, AZ

For the past five years I directed a K-6 grade school for seventy Navajo children and a health clinic for the community in Rock Point, Arizona. It  was in one of the least populated and isolated communities on the Navajo Reservation. We ran over 50% unemployment, about a third of the people have no  access to electricity or running water. Some of the older people could'nt  speak English and many people’s primary occupations are as Shepherds. I also helped  my wife pastor the House of Prayer an ELCA congregation housed at the Mission and provide music for the services each Sunday. Basically, we helped care for  hundreds of very poor Navjao people in the middle of a vast desert with a staff of some twenty Navajo people at the Mission. We were truly a Mission in the old and true sense of the word: a place where people come for help and understanding, for shelter and education, for health and for hope.

 2004-2009          Pastor, Eden Lutheran Church (ELCA), Munising, MI

Functioned as a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and also founded and directed the Turtle Island Project a nonprofit  organization that promotes dialogue between Christian and Native American communities. I also founded the Grand Island Conference and Retreat Program offering courses in Religion and Science, Health and  Healing, and Ecological Theology.                          

 2001-2003           Spiritual Director, Alternative Treatment Centers, Mundelein, IL

Provided spiritual counseling, clinical workshops, spiritual retreats, small  group counseling, community reintegration programs, and multi-cultural worship services for juvenile sex offenders and their families.

 1997-2000           Director of Development, Institute for World Spirituality, Chicago, IL

Chief Development Officer and Program Manager for the IWS. Initiated and coordinated national and international conferences, including twelve presentations of the IWS for the second Parliament of World’s Religions in Cape Town, South Africa.


 1994-1996           Pastor, Caribbean Synod, ELCA, St Croix, U.S.V.I.

Served as interim pastor for two afro-Caribbean Lutheran churches on the island of St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands.


1993                    Development Director, Parliament for the World’s Religions, Chicago, IL.

he Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions was created to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.  It traces it’s origins to the first World’s Congress of Religions at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. A Centennial celebration was held in Chicago in 1993, bringing together over eight thousand religious leaders from around the World.


 1987-1992             Assistant Dean of Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago

Liturgist in charge of all services, including preaching on a regular basis. Served   as development officer and financial manager for the Chapel’s operational budget.  Helped supervise and fund raise  for the restoration of the chapel’s E.M. Skinner organ, over saw a multi-million dollar restoration of the Chapel. As the Gradate Assistant to the head of the Systematic Department, I taught classes in process theology and religion and science at the Lutheran School of Theology.